CHESS #1373

CHESS #1373

The Fide Grand Swiss Open still looks wide open. After seven rounds, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian share the lead with 5.5 points each. They are followed by a pack of seven, including Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk, Parham Maghsoodloo, Kirill Alekseenko, David Antón Guijarro, Wang Hao and 

Nikita Vitiugov (all 5).

The winner of the 11-rounder qualifies for the Candidates. Of course, neither Carlsen nor Caruana need that spot, which could be the trigger for more excitement. Both world champion and the world #2 have survived dead-lost positions during this event, versus Vladislav Kovalev and Luke McShane respectively. Caruana has played a